A big reason I love the Bible is it doesn’t edit out the “stranger things.”

I spoke this past weekend at Parkview Christian Church in Chicagoland about what can happen when a person gets bored with their church and faith. How getting bored can cause you to “fall out” of faith and church. And that can oftentimes lead you to die.

But the good news is …all it often takes to restore the life of a person
who has “fallen out” is for
someone to put their arms around them!

This message could be for you, a co-worker, class-mate, neighbor, kids or grandkids …

Check it out and learn the unique lessons from Eutychus in Acts chapter 20 as he “LITERALLY ” falls out of church!

I just launched the “BAGGAGE” series at Parkview Christian Church. Parkview is a multi-site church of 9,000 weekend attenders in the Chicago-land area. I am honored to be part of the teaching team and find myself traveling from Huntington Beach, California to be with the Parkview crew 12-15 weekends a year.

In the first 10 minutes of this message I littered the stage with about 50 FOLDERS and I told a story of an event that occurred 8 years ago and changed the rest of my life. The bottom line …

This is the week we remember that God became man and sent us HOPE in the form of a soft skinned baby named Jesus.

It is common during this Christmas season to consider what Jesus did from the vantage point and writings of Matthew or Luke in the Bible as they tell us about Mary and Joseph, the wise men, the shepherds, innkeeper, angels and Herod.

But I would like us to consider for a moment what Jesus did at Christmas from the vantage point of heaven.

Let’s “Unwrap Hope” from the perspective of heaven.

Philippians 2:5-11

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in very nature God,did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;7 rather, he made himself nothingby taking the very nature of a servant,being made in human likeness.8 And being found in appearance as a man,he humbled himselfby becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest placeand gave him the name that is above every name,10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,in heaven and on earth and under the earth,11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,to the glory of God the Father.

This past weekend at Parkview Christian Church in the Chicagoland area I shared this message about many world religions. Including Christianity, Jehovah Witness, Mormonism, Islam, Hinduism and Scientology.

If you have have been told by a friend or family member or thought to yourself …

TED (Television, Entertainment & Design) Talks have become synonymous with creativity and always address very unique subjects in curious ways. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages.

In this new year I will spend many Tuesday Mornings w/ TED. When I find an exceptional talk I will share it with you.

This talk by Simon Sinek is one of my favorites and it ranks #3 on the all time TED Talk list with over 20,000,000 views.